Stop-actuating device for pipe organs, etc.



Aug. 21, 1923. 1,465,418

7 G. H. CHAPMAN STOP ACTUATING DEVICE FOR PIPE ORGANS, ETC

Filed May 5, 1921 Patented Aug. 21, 1923.

' GEORGE J 1 11. CHAPMAN,

or oiironeo, ILLINOJiS s'ror-Ac'rUArrne DEVICE FOR PIPE on-sans, 'ETC.

Application filed May 5, 1921. "Serial No; 466,884.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known thatjI, GEORGE H. CHAPMAN, a-citizen of the United States,residing at Chicago, inthe county of Cook and State of Illinois, haveinvented certain new and useful. Improvements in'Stop-Actuating Devicesvfor Pipe Organs, Eton, of which th following is aspecification. 1 VThis-invention relates to, Sto actuating mechanisms for pipe organs ancother. musical instruments of-that type wherein the stops areelectrically actuated and ;are controlled by individual circuit closersconnected to and manually operated by either draw stops, stop-keys orpivoted tablets, and also actuated, in predetermined combinations, bypower. devices. Heretofore pneumatics have almost universallybeen-employed for actuating the circuitclosersin combinations, and one,object of my invention is to provide a practical and simple electricalcircuit openingfand closing means in lieu of thepneumatic.meansheretofore used. Where the manually operated circuitcontrollers areiactuated in circuit. closing direction by pivoted stopkeys, it has been customary to mount the latter side by side inrear of awooden bar or strip, the latter being slotted to allow the stop-keys-toproject therethrough, and the latter are held'in on and off positions bysprings,the upper ends of which bear against regulating screws enteredinto the rear side of the bar or strip, above the slot. It has beenfound in practice that where a long rowxofstopkeys -is thus mounted, thecombined efforts of all the stop-key controlling springs, will, in time,spring or bow the wooden bar or strip and thus throw the abutment pointsof' the springs out of correct relation to their hearing points on thestop-keys and the ful-.

crums of the latter so that a stop-key, when thrown on or oihwillnothave-a tendency to stay in set position; Another object of theinvention is to provide a "construction which will entirely-remedy thefault above noted; Again, in the few cases where magnets were used as adirect means of operatingthe stop-key levers in place of the pneumaticabove referred to, the magnets were mounted on'a-wooden base boardbehind the front strip or bar, in or through-which, the.

stop-keylllevers are mounted' As these magnets. were of thepivoted-armature type,

theyprequired. very delicate and accurate regulationin order to operateon the low voltage which is specified for, musical instruments.Therefore, any swelling or shrinking of the wood, due to climatic andtemperature changes, altered the distance sufficiently to throw theoperating magnet out of regulation with the stop-key lever to which itis connected. This prevented the correct actuation of the stop-key andconsequently ofithe circuitclosers. s

Another object of the invention is to providea-constru'ction by whichthe length of 'the connection between the stop-keyand the movable poweractuated circuit closing member is always vmaintained uniform andconstant, thereby obviating the faultlast above noted. Still'otherobjects and advantages of the invention will be apparent to thoseskilled'in the art as the same becomes better understood by reference tothe following description, taken .in connection with the accompanyingdrawings, in which I have illustrated a practical and approvedembodiment of the invention and wherein:

Fig, 1 is a top plan view, showing asingle stop 'key andelectro-magnetically actuated circuit closer associated therewith;

Fig. 2 is a vertical section on the line 2'2 of Fig. 1; 3 1 1 Fig. 3 isa diagram, showing the tandem windingsof a solenoid magnet;

Fig. 4 is a detail view in horizontal sec? tion on the line 4-4= of-Fig.2; and

Fig. 5 is a pers'pective'nelevation of a bracket that :is attached toIthe'rear side of- 7, on the top wall of which slot is the usual eltbuffer strip 8; On'the upper-side of the base board 5, just in front ofthe bearer strip 6, is a :ledge or shoulder 9 on'which ests" the usualfelt buffer strip 10. To the rear wall of the bar or'strip 6 aresecured, side by side in juxtaposition, a series of metal brackets orunitsconveniently formed die castings and best shown in detail in Fig.5. Each of these brackets comprises an upper attachment plate 11, a pairof parallel tapered side walls 12 forming trusses, and a horizontal baseplate 13, which latter preferably rests upon a narrow wooden ledge 14formed on or attached to the base board .5. The attachment plate 11 isaperturedto receive a fastening screw 15 that enters the bar or strip 6,as clearly shown in Fig. 2; and directly above the screw 15 is a tappedboss 16 which receives .the regulating screw 17.

The side valls 12 are formed with. registering'apertures 18 a slightdistance above their lower ends, in which apertures is mounted a pivotOr fulcrum rod 19.

On the free edge of the base plate 13 of the bracket is an apertured lug20 for a purpose hereinafter described. As shown in Fig. 1, the face ofthe attachment plate 11 which lies in contact with the bar or strip (3is preferably formed slightly concave, as indicated at 11. The purposeof this is two-fold. In the first place, it well adapts the bracket toset firmly onto either a curved or straight bar or strip; also the edgesonly come in contact with the wood, and when screwed'home, bite into thelatter and thus increase the rigidity of the mounting, 'requiring onlyone mounting screw.

Pivoted on the fulcrum rod 19 between the side walls of each bracket, isthe stopkey21 of the customary form, the inner end of the stop-key beingslotted and having secured therein a brass plate 22 formed with a notch23 in its upper edge. Between the notch 28 and the head of theregulating screw 17, is interposed the usual bow spring 24. The bearingpoint 23 of the lower end of the spring is so related to the fulcrum 19ot' the stop-key and the abutment point of the upperend of the spring,that when the stopkey is in the on position shown by full lines in Fig.2, the point 23 lies forwardly of a straight line connecting the fulcrum19 and the upper bearing point of the spring. and when the stop-key isin the off position shown by dotted lines in Fig. the point 2 3 shiftedto the opposite sides of said line. With the three points thus related,the spring acts to snap and hold the stop-key in both on and offposition. A. nice and permanent adjustment can'be secured by adjustingthe screw 17 inw-ardly or outwardly to shift the upper bearing point ofthe spring.

-25 designates .a 'wide, generally U-shaped metal frame, one/limb 25' ofwhich is herein shown as made separable and attached thereto by screws26 for convenience in assembling the parts carried within said frame.The limb 25' is attached at its lower end by a .screw'27 to an anglebracket 28 mounted on the base board 5, while the other limb of theframe has an integral horizontal extension 29 that is secured by a screw30 to the boss 20 of the stop-key supporting bracket. \Vithin the metalframe members 25 and 25' are mounted a pair of solenoid coils 31 and 32arranged tandem andv having a single movable core or plunger 33 throughboth. One end of the plunger 33 is tapped to receive the threaded stem34' of a coupling sleeve 34, in which latter is swiveled by a ball andsocket joint, one end of a bent connecting-rod The other end of theconnecting-rod 35 is bent at a right angle as shown at 35 (Fig. 1) andengaged with an aperture in the metal strip or plate 22 carried by theinner end of the stop key. The coupling sleeve 34' is formed with asquared portion 34 by which it may be readily turned to effect a niceadjustment of the length of the connecting-rod. In the other end of themovable core or plunger 38, is fitted an insulated plug SG that extendswith clearance through an aperture in the frame member 25 and likewisethrough a registering aperture in a contact block 37 attached to theouter side of the frame piece 25 with an interposed paper or fiberinsulation 38. In the outer end of the plug 36 is mounted a dependincontact pin that lies between a pair ofspring contacts -10 mounted in oron the contact block 37 and, when moved inwardly, closes an organ stopor other circuit &1 through said contacts, and when moved outwardlybreaks such circuit; the two positions of the pin 39 being clearlyindicated in Fig. 4.

The circuit closer can be operated by either one of two means: It can bemanually operated by depressing the stop-key 21 to close the circuit,and raising the same to open the circuit. The circuit closer can also beoperated by a power device. A prede termined combination of organ stopsis obtained by throwing into, or out of use, several of the circuitclosers simultaneously, each circuit closer then being operated byenergizing one of the solenoid coils 31 or 32; the stop-keys being, ofcourse, idly actuated. during such magnetic actuation of the circuitopening and closing device.

Fig. 8 diagrammatically illustrates the windings of the tandem solenoidmagnets. One end of each winding is shown as connected through a commonlead .42 to a terminal post 43, and their other ends are connected byleads 44 and 45 to posts 46 and &7, respectively. For convenience theposts 43, 46 and 47 are herein shown. as mounted in and projecting fromthe frame leg 25 with suitable insulation. The central post 43 ispermanently wired to one side of a generator, and the posts 46 and 47are wired to the opposite side of the generator with a suitable switchinterposed for closing the circuit through one or the other of the postsl 7 -part of the present inventionf L 4c and 4.7 Tvvlier'eby a)energizeither winding at will, accordingly as-theoircuit is to be openedor closed. lhe'se last-mentioned details are not hereinshownas'they'form no- The practical utility and value of thed e scribedmetal brackets will'be readily undernot directly ftakengby thecomparatively light wooden baro'rstrip 6, but is resisted by lateralcontiguity, so that theycannot bend or bow the strip 6, and hence noaccidental displacement of the-abutment points of the.

springs 24 can occur,andno twisting strain on the bar 6 exists. Themagnet supportin frame being directly connected to the lower end ofthe'stop-key bracket, no accidental variations, from climatic andtemperature changes, can occur that will alterthecorrect position ofthe'plunger core in relation to the windings and circuit closer.

Finally, for the purpose of actuating stop combinations I have foundthat the tandem solenoid form herein shown and described is economicalof space, simple in constructlon, noiseless 1n operation, economlcal inupper and lower lips 50 and 51 on the strip or bar engaging face ofthebracket whichlie in the slot of the'strip or bar 6 and constitutestops for the stop-key, the latter having upper and lower buffercushions 52 and 53 attached thereto. 1 Q

Thechief point in favor of a magnet over a pneumatic lies in its greaterlongevityfand practical indestructibility. It cannot become leaky, andis not vulnerable to mice and other vermin.

Manifestly, the device may be considerably modified in respect ofstructural details without altering its substantial character orprinciple, or sacrificing any of the advantages inherent therein. Hence.I reserveall such variations and modifications asv fall within thespirit and purview of the appended claims.

I claim: I 1. In a stop actuating device. for musical instruments, thecombination of a solenoid magnet, a plug of insulatingv materialattached to one end of the plunger of said magnet, a contact membercarried by said plug, a manually operable stop-actuating fmeinber, and aEli-ilk connecting saidf stopactuating member-to the other end of 1 saidplungerw 5 1 f 2. In a stopactuating device for musical instruments, thecombination :of a {pair of pp osia y wound solenoid magnet coilsdisposed-tandem and having a common movable armature extendingtherethrough, a circu t. openingqand closing member carried by oneend ofsaid armature, and a manually operable stop-actuating member con-ynected to the other-endof said armature. the bracket'swhich are mounted1n close In a stop actuating device for musical instrument'sfthecombination of a wooden bar, a metal bracket attached to the rear sideof said bar, a stopkey fulcrumed in the lowerportion of said bracket, aspring I g abutment member on the upper portion of said bracket, and astop-key controlling spring between the inner end of said stopkey andsaid abutment member.

4. In a stop actuating device for musical instruments, the combinationof a wooden bar, a metal bracket att-achedto the rear side of said barand formed with a tapped boss on its upper portion, a regulating screwmounted in said boss, a stop-key fulcrumed in the lower portion of saidbracket, and a stop-key controlling spring between the inner end of saidstop-key and said regulating screw. 7 I

5. In a stop actuating device for musical instruments, the combinationof a wooden .bar, a metal bracket attached to the "rear aregulatingscrew mounted in said boss, a

pivot pin mounted in and between the lower portion of said side walls, astop-key fulcrumed on said pivot pin, and a stop-key controlling springbetween the inner end of said key and said regulating screw.

6. In a stop-actuating mechanism for musical instruments, thecombination with a panel strip, of a metal bracket attached to the rearside of said panel strip and having a transversely concave wall lyingagainst saidpanel strip, and a stop key piv otally mounted on saidbracket.

7 In a stop actuating device for musical instruments, the combinationwith a base boa-rd, anda strip or bar above said base board, of a metalbracket mounted on the rear side of said strip, a pivoted stop-key andits controlling spring mounted on said 'bracket, a frame attached at oneend to said instruments, the combination with a base attachment lug onits lower vend, a pivoted and to said base board and at its O thGI QIldboard, and a'str-ip or {bar above said base to said a ttsqlimspx lug, asolenoid magnet board, of la metal bracket mounted on the mounted said#3198 grid hsving me and rear side of said strip, and formed with an .ofits plunger vcmmestel to said stop-key, 10

and a circuit contact member harried by, and insulated from, the otherand of said plunger, 7 C GEORGE V H. CHAPMAN.

stop-key and its controlling spring mounted on saidbracket, a'irameattachedatpne

